


Something with Tomatoes

by AshesFall (Cloud_Nine)



Series: Lucky Sevens [2]
Category: Naruto
Genre: Aftermath of Torture, Gen, Team as Family
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-05-27
Updated: 2016-05-27
Packaged: 2018-07-10 14:52:11
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,492
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6989923
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Cloud_Nine/pseuds/AshesFall
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Sakura gets a new hairstyle. Sasuke remembers promises made in the darkness. Naruto makes dinner. Things aren't good or bad for Team 7, they just are.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Something with Tomatoes

“You look fine,” Naruto said soothingly. 

Sakura scowled at her teammate and shook her head, ignoring the lack of long pink hair that would normally accompany such a movement. 

Her hair, or lack thereof, was the cause of the problem. Having been released from the hospital only a few days before the youngest members of Team 7 were left to entertain themselves until they were called for another debriefing. 

They had already tangled with medical and then torture and interrogation the day after their release. Kakashi-sensei had explained that they would have a more formal debriefing then the one in T&I and some time after that, fitness tests. Their sensei, who had Naruto, Sasuke, and Sakura were reluctant to let out of their sight, was currently attending on of many debriefs that he as a jōnin instructor was supposed to do after a mission like the one they had. 

At least he was supposed to be in a debriefing, but knowing Kakashi-sensei a black cat might have crossed his path and he might have ended up at the memorial stone. 

“I look like a boy,” Sakura complained running a hand over her now very short hair. They had trimmed it at the hospital but it was still uneven and ragged. 

Sasuke snorted and gave his teammate a once over, something that only a few months previously would have made Sakura squeal. “No you don’t, you look like a kunoichi with short hair,” he said with an air of finality. 

After a quick stop at their homes, Naruto and Sakura had retreated with Sasuke to the old Uchiha district where the three had created a well defensible place to sleep. 

Naruto and Sakura had set a plethora of traps around their sleeping area. Naruto started with mostly harmless traps at the outermost perimeter but they quickly became more and more lethal. Elite jōnin could likely get past them but few could do it without alerting them. 

“Why don’t you have Ino trim it?”Naruto asked popping up from his reclined position. 

Sakura pauses to think about the suggestion. Ino. Ino was safe. She hadn’t seen Ino since she returned home. She hadn’t seen much of anyone, honestly, the boys had to force her to stay and talk with her parents for a few hours. 

Sakura tried to imagine Ino’s reaction to her hair. They had decided to grow their hair out together to impress Sasuke. How would her best friend/rival react? 

Loudly. Sakura winced. She could picture the loud and concerned voice of her friend. The endless questions and pity. Sakura swallowed harshly. She couldn’t do it. Without meaning to Sakura also pictured her friend with a pair of scissors and flinched. Something sharp so close to her head and neck? That wasn’t happening. 

“I think I know why so many kunoichis have long hair,” Sakura said trying not to shudder. 

“Have the Dope do it,” Sasuke offered knowing better than to offer to do it himself. Sasuke remembered whispered confessions in a dark cell. Confessions about the darkness that surrounded him and the desires he felt sometimes. How he worried about becoming his brother, about how he wondered how it would feel to slaughter everyone he loved. 

Sakura turned to Naruto and raised an eye as if to ask if he was willing. 

“I don’t know,” Naruto said hesitantly. “What if I screw up?”

“I don’t think you could make it worse, Naruto,” Sakura said laughing. “I only need you to even out the back, I can get the rest.” 

It didn’t take long to find a part of scissors. Sasuke had some in a drawer that he quickly gave to Naruto. Sakura sat on the floor, legs crossed to make it more difficult to stand if she ended up panicking. 

Without being asked Sasuke sat in front of her and took her hands in his. “Don’t do that thing you do,” Sasuke said dryly referring to the show of extreme strength she showed at times.

“I won’t,” Sakura said with a wavering voice. 

“Okay, um, I’m going to start soon,” Naruto said sounding just as nervous. 

Naruto worked slowly. He babbled the whole time trying not to startle his teammate. Sasuke kept a tight hold of Sakura’s hands ignoring her attempts to jerk her hands away from his and attack their third teammate. 

Finally, Naruto stopped. “Done. It’s not perfect, but it’s better,” Naruto said tossing the scissors onto a nearby countertop. 

Sakura stood shakily wrapping her arms around herself. “T-thanks,” She said taking deep breaths. “I’ll fix the rest later.” 

Her boys didn’t comment. 

They sat in silence for a while. Naruto curled up on one of the futons in the room and Sasuke paced the length of the room while Sakura wedged herself into one of the corners and just sat there. 

Sasuke felt...not trapped but confined in a way he didn’t much like. He knew he could leave the compound, he knew if he wanted his Team would go with him. The problem was he didn’t want to leave. He didn’t want to venture out into the Village. He didn’t want to leave the compound and deal with the looks he knew he would get. 

Everyone knew what happened. Everyone knew that they had been taken prisoner. Everyone knew that they just appeared at the gate one day, dirty and broken. Only T&I and the Hokage knew what really happened, but everyone else had an idea. 

He wanted to train, but the hospital had given them a ban. Team 7 wasn’t supposed to train or use too much chakra for a few more days. They were still healing, the medics said. 

Sasuke scowled and felt the slight tugging of the scar tissue across his face. The medics had managed to reduce a lot of the scarring but a good portion still remained. 

Sasuke remembered what had caused the scarring. It was about the time everything went to hell. He never expected his great fireball justsu to be blown back on him like it had been. 

The pain has been horrendous. It was how they captured him. Blinded by the pain and unable to move he was overpowered. It left his team vulnerable. Something he had promised would never happen again.

People liked to pretend that promises and confessions whispered in the dark with blood in your mouth didn’t matter. That they didn’t count, but Sasuke knew better. 

“Oiy, Sasuke-teme, come help me make dinner,” Naruto called breaking the silence that had covered them for several minutes. 

Like a light in the darkness, Naruto’s voice pulled Sasuke from the dark place inside his head. It wasn’t the first time and he knew it wouldn’t be the last. “Hn,” Sasuke grunted moving to join his teammate in the small kitchenette.

“What should we make?” Naruto asked sneaking a longing look at the cabinet where Sasuke knew he had stashed some ramen cups. 

The last Uchiha gave a soft chuckle under his breath and shook his head, “How about something with tomatoes?” 

Together they worked without a word between them. Sakura watched from her corner as they danced around one another never getting in each other’s way. Sakura knew that she could join them, join the dance and it would like she had been there the whole time. It was a small taste of their movements when they fought together. 

Together the three of them were becoming strong. Kakashi-sensei had told them in their desperate run across Fire Country that they had potential. His voice held a hint of memory when he said it, a memory of what Sakura hadn’t been able to figure out. 

Soon enough the small house was filled with the scent of food. That was a smell she would never take for granted ever again. 

“Dinner is about done Sakura-chan,” Naruto said shooting his female teammate a look over his shoulder. 

Naruto turned back to the meal he was finishing and Sakura pushed to her feet. Her muscles twinged slightly from the cramped position she had remained in for so long but an unconscious flush of chakra to her muscles washed away any discomfort. 

As she watched the boys finish Sakura couldn’t help but notice the scissors Naruto had tossed on the counter. There wasn’t a mirror in the room so she grabbed them and wandered into the bathroom. She could see that Naruto had done a decent job trimming the back. It took a while but with patience Sakura managed to cut her hair. To even it out, she had to cut the sides shorter than she would have liked but the top was long enough to brush her forehead. 

With a little work, Sakura managed to get the front to stick up. It was cute. Different, but cute. 

She wasn’t the same girl who had graduated only a few months ago, but maybe that didn’t have to be a horrible thing.

**Author's Note:**

> Like my fic? Wanna talk to me about it?? Find me on tumblr! 9cloud-nine9.tumblr.com


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